Calls-to-action (CTA) are the secret sauce to drive people to your offers. If your CTA’s aren’t effective at capturing attention and persuading people to click on them (for digital marketing), then it makes the offer useless.
CTA’s can be used on most website pages, landing pages, in display ads, email, social media, direct mail and pretty much anywhere you can market your offer. But not all CTA’s are created equal.
In a world where every brand is fighting for consumer’s attention, it’s critical that prospects choose your offer over your competitors.
Here’s a good example of a banner with a nice looking CTA (the Learn More button is the CTA).
Here are 6 of our top tips for using CTA’s that will deliver.
#1 Put the CTA where it can be seen.
Website calls-to-action do best “above the fold” – the area of your web page that is viewable to the user without having to scroll down.
According to heat map analysis (cool tech that visually shows site users clicks, taps and scrolling behaviour), anything “below the fold” will only be viewed by 50% of people who visit your page.
#2 Clarity trumps persuasion
Make sure your CTA offer is crystal clear. And be specific.
If you’re giving away a free guide, say “Download our FREE guide to X.” If you’re hosting a free webinar, say “Register for our FREE webinar on X.” X should clearly convey a compelling benefit of receiving the offer. This is much more effective than “Download Now” or “Get a Free Article.” These simply aren’t specific enough.
#3 Stand Out
A call-to-action is meant to stand out, so if your CTA blends in too much with your site design, no one will notice it. You want as many eyeballs to land on that call-to-action as possible. Use contrasting colors to make the CTA stand out, and more importantly, use design to make it clear it is a clickable call-to-action.
#4 Link the CTA to a dedicated landing page
This tip might seem minor, but it’s incredible how often businesses miss this opportunity. Calls-to-action are meant to send visitors to a dedicated landing page where they receive a specific offer.
Don’t use CTA’s to drive people to your homepage. Even if your CTA is about your brand or product (and perhaps not an offer like a download), still send them to a targeted landing page that is relevant to what they are looking for.
If you have the opportunity to use a CTA, send them to a page that will convert them into a lead.
#5 Promote offers on product pages
CTA’s shouldn’t be one-size-fits-all. If your company offers various products or services, consider creating a different offer for each. Then place CTA’s linking to each offer on the website pages that are most relevant to that offer.
#6 Thank you pages are great real estate.
Even if someone completes a form on your website (thus they’ve converted as a lead), don’t stop there! Increasing engagement is also a top priority for marketers so that prospects turn into loyal fans. Once someone reaches a “thank you” page (the page that a visitor arrives on after completing a form), use the space on your thank you page as another opportunity to promote more offers and content. For example, when a visitor on hubspot.com downloads a ‘how-to’ guide on email marketing, they are then given another offer for a demo of their email marketing software.
Every website, landing page or social media post should have a call to action. If you don’t, then don’t expect traffic.
Get started by clicking this CTA and book a 20-minute call with Jason.
